Starwood to build two hotels in World Heritage Halong Bay
16:10 04/03/2009

      Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. announced Friday it had reached an agreement with Royal International Corp. to develop two hotels in the World Heritage Site of Halong Bay in northern Vietnam.

The Four Points by Sheraton Halong Bay and Sheraton Halong Bay Resort are scheduled to come online in 2008 and 2010 respectively, said Starwood, one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world.

The Four Points by Sheraton Halong Bay will include 160 rooms, 4 restaurants and lounge, 2 meeting rooms, a gym, spa and indoor swimming pool. 

Sheraton Halong Bay will feature 300 rooms, with 4 restaurants and lounge, a gym, outdoor pool and spa, as well as over 1,500 square meters of meeting space. 

The Four Points will be the first of its kind for Sheraton in Vietnam, while the Halong Bay resort is the third for the hotel brand in Vietnam, along with the Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers in Ho Chi Minh City and Sheraton West Lake Hanoi in Vietnam’s capital city.

"Starwood is excited to bring two of its renowned brands to the fast-growing Indochina region,” Miguel Ko, President of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Asia Pacific commented. 

“The growth demand [in Vietnam] presents us with tremendous opportunities as the first international upscale hotel group to debut in Halong Bay, a popular tourist destination,” Ko added.

Some 170km east of Hanoi, Halong Bay consists of a cluster of 1969 limestone monolithic islands which rise from the ocean along a 12- kilometer coastline, forming a spectacular seascape of limestone pillars.

In 1994, UNESCO recognized it as a World Heritage site for its unique geographical and geomorphologic characteristics. 

Starwood entered Vietnam in 2003, and its five-star Sheraton Saigon Hotel and Towers in HCMC earlier this year made the 2007 Gold List for the world’s best hotels by the US prestigious magazine Condé Nast Traveler.

The hotel was chosen in the New York City-based magazine’s 13th annual roll call of the best 700 hotels, resorts and cruise lines in more than 70 countries.

The 23-story facility in HCMC’s District 1 has received many other awards since opening in May 2003, including the ‘Best Business Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City 2006’ award by Business Traveler Magazine Asia Pacific, and ‘Best Business Hotel in Vietnam 2004 and 2005’ by Business Asia Magazine in conjunction with CNBC Asia Pacific.

Reported by Thu Thuy

Source : thanhniennews.com